I could take you on
by Lolathe17th
Summary: AU - Brittany and Puck are mechanics in a small town. When Puck introduces Brittany to his new girlfriend Santana, sparks fly. Literally.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: A new idea I couldn't get out of my head! If you guys like it, I'll continue... I'll still be updating my other story too, if anybody's wondering.

The town this is set in, is a small east coast town that I invented ;)

I hope you enjoy!

* * *

"I could take you on," she said haughtily. Brittany resisted the urge to laugh out loud. This tiny little thing thought she could physically beat her? Hilarious. Brittany had at least four inches on her and, she suspected, a whole lot of muscle. She played basketball on a daily basis after all. And she worked with her hands all day. This girl on the other hand looked like she never got her hands dirty.

Brittany glanced at the girl's hands. Nope, she definitely didn't use them to work with. Soft, feminine looking hands, carefully manicured. They were cute though… So tiny, they would fit in hers with ease. Brittany snapped out of her daze, confused. Why was she even thinking about this? This girl was her new enemy. She snorted, the thought hadn't gotten any less amusing. The girl glared at her angrily. Ready to lash out.

* * *

Brittany sighed, mentally scolding herself for getting into this ridiculous situation. That morning, Puck had told her – uncharacteristically nervous – about his new girlfriend, Santana. Tuesday nights were theirs. They would go out and try to pick up girls together, neither of them ever seriously involved with anybody. But Puck seemed to actually care about this girl.

She had apparently asked if she could join them on their night out. Puck hadn't been able to refuse, he could hardly tell her what the purpose of those nights really was after all. Brittany had reluctantly agreed, not looking forward to playing third wheel. Puck had tried to convince her it wouldn't be like that, that he wanted the two of them to meet, and to get along.

So after work, Brittany had gone home, took a shower, ate a microwave dinner, and headed to their usual bar. Puck had already been there when she arrived. "Where's your girl?" she had asked him. "Work ran late, and she needed time to get ready or something," Puck said absently. Brittany followed his line of sight, and saw him shamelessly checking out a girl she knew for a fact wasn't Santana. This was Emma; Brittany had slept with her a couple months ago.

Even though she wasn't particularly looking forward to meeting Santana, Brittany couldn't help but feel bad for her. Puck was probably the worst boyfriend on the planet. She whacked his head, "eyes off," she said exasperatedly, "your girlfriend is on her way over here!"

Puck had the decency to look guilty and returned to his beer bottle. Brittany went to the bar to order her own, greeting several people on her way. She knew pretty much everybody in this little town. Brittany loved living here. Sure, she and Puck didn't have the best reputation, but people seemed to like them anyway. In fact she wondered where this Santana girl had come from all of a sudden.

Even if they went 'hunting' – as Puck insisted on calling it – every week, they barely ever left Rowville, and as a result the amount of new girls they met was very low. They had both slept with a large portion of the available population – and occasionally with the unavailable person.

She got her beer, and made her way back over to Puck, determined to find out where he had met this new girl. It had been too long since she had had sex, and she hoped Puck had found a new source of girls or something.

She was sorely disappointed. Apparently Santana had come into the shop with her car about two weeks ago. Brittany had been out because of a doctor's appointment. She never got sick, and just on that one day a hot girl came in – she must have been hot, otherwise Puck wouldn't have asked her out – and agreed to go on a date with Puck.

While Puck was boasting about how easily he had gotten the girl to agree – apparently she was a new teacher at the local high school, and didn't know a single person in Rowesville – to go out with him, Brittany's attention was occupied by a gorgeous brunette walking in. She was wearing tight jeans, a red blouse and ballerina flats and looked effortlessly chic. She also stood out like a sore thumb. The women here either dressed extremely casually, like Brittany did most of the time, or they dressed like the good WASPs they were, neat skirts and jackets in modest colors.

This girl on the other hand, looked like she just stepped out of a fashion magazine. Brittany was entranced. Puck, who was sitting with his back to the door, finally caught on to Brittany's blatant staring, and turned his head. The brunette, who had been standing there a bit awkwardly, let out a relieved smile and made her way over to their table.

Just her luck, Brittany thought. Of course this gorgeous girl had to be Santana. Her and Puck had a strict code that once of them got a girl, she was off limits for the other one.

* * *

Puck helped Santana in the booth, and got up to get her a drink, leaving the girls to introductions. Brittany rolled her eyes, he really had the worst manners. At least he didn't make Santana go get a drink herself.

"Hi, I'm Brittany," she said, holding out her hand, trying not to sound too excited, but inadvertently flashing the girl a big smile nonetheless. "Santana," the girl replied, somewhat coolly. She's probably just a little shy, Brittany thought to herself. Santana, however, immediately got her cell phone out, and started texting. Or she is just rude… Brittany thought.

Although Santana put her phone away when Puck returned, the atmosphere remained somewhat tense. Santana seemed weirdly tense with Puck's arm around her, Puck was being an obnoxious show-off as usual, oblivious to the tension and Brittany couldn't stop staring at Santana even though the girl was anything but friendly towards her.

Eventually Puck and Brittany got to talking though, and the conversation soon turned to one of their favorite topics, their conquests. Not the nicest subject with Santana sitting right there, but Brittany couldn't handle it any longer, and she needed to remind Puck that she was just as big of a stud as he was. The conversation turned to Katie, a girl who had gone to high school with, and the epic fight she and Brittany had had at some point.

Puck and Brittany were both laughing out loud at the memory of the girl – who had been a lot smaller than Brittany – constantly trying to physically attack her. Santana who had been quiet this whole time, suddenly piped up: "I could take you on," glaring at her challengingly.

* * *

Let me know what you think please!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you soooo much for all the reviews and alerts! It really means a lot to me! I'm really glad so many people like this so far, I hope this chapter isn't too disappointing... Enjoy, and let me know what you think! Also, there is a question for you guys at the bottom.

* * *

Turns out Santana fights dirty.

* * *

"Let's take this outside," Puck suddenly interrupted the glaring contest the girls had going on. Brittany directed her glare at him. His expression was a mixture of disbelief, horror and excitement. "Britt, we don't wanna get kicked out of here, right?" Brittany had to admit he had a point. This was their favorite bar, and other options were limited around here.

So they all got up, and made their way outside. They walked to the back of the bar, where they would be out of sight. Brittany felt like she was back in high school, or maybe in a movie she wasn't aware of having a part in. Were they really going to do this?

When Santana gracefully lifted her pretty blouse over her head, revealing a tight white tank top, Brittany realized she wasn't getting out of this. While Santana handed Puck her blouse and her purse, along with her shoes for safekeeping, Brittany was busy ogling the girl's ample cleavage.

It would be hard not getting distracted by that during the fight.

Finally Santana deemed herself ready. After an encouraging slap on the butt from Puck, she came closer to Brittany, her pose defensive. Brittany wasn't sure who would make the first move, and what would happen afterwards, but it turns out she didn't have to worry about that because within twenty seconds Santana literally jumped on her. Brittany hit the ground pretty hard, Santana landing considerably softer – on top of her.

Brittany tried to get up and shake Santana off at the same time, but the girl was stronger than she looked, so she soon decided that this would be an on-the-ground fight. She managed to flip their positions, so she was straddling the smaller girl.

After that, things got kind of blurry for Brittany. Santana seemed to truly have it out for her for some reason, and she fought really dirty. If there had been a judge of any sort, she would have been called out on the hair pulling, scratching and biting she was doing.

But Brittany just thought it was kind of cute how much she fought like a girl and Puck, standing on the side, holding Santana's things – which for all intents and purposes made him look pretty foolishly – was slightly drooling, so Santana was free to act as she wanted.

About halfway through Brittany realized that she had slightly underestimated Santana. She would learn later that the girl had led both her high school and her college cheer team to consecutive national championships. Brittany had never really thought of cheerleaders as actual athletes before, but after that fateful day, her opinion on the matter changed significantly.

She didn't really realize it at first, because she was too busy admiring Santana's tan skin, her long, silky hair, and her tiny fists, but Santana was actually kind of hurting her. She finally sort of started to fight back, but she soon realized there wasn't much she could do without actually hurting Santana, and somehow that suddenly seemed like the worst thing on earth.

After a particularly forceful blow to her stomach, Brittany finally sent Puck a pleading look. She really couldn't bring herself to really fighting back, but she was in pain now. Puck caught in pretty quickly, and dropped Santana's stuff on the ground promptly. He made his way over to them, and effortlessly lifted Santana, who had been straddling Brittany, high in the air.

She didn't like that and started kicking and screaming, but Puck – seemingly unaffected by her blows – threw her over his shoulder, and walked her over the side of the building. He put her down against the wall, and grabbed her shoulders, bending down to her eye level. "Calm down," he said sternly.

He left her there to seethe, and made his way back to Brittany, who had gotten up, but stood bent, with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. "She got you pretty good huh," Puck grinned. Brittany didn't look up. If her girl had beaten up Puck like that, she'd be pretty proud too. That didn't mean she wanted to see Puck's smug mug.

Santana all of a sudden made her way back over to them, looking angry as hell, but Brittany was once again captivated by her beauty. Her hair which was now a total mess, was blowing in her face, and somehow it made her look even hotter.

Santana didn't look at either of them, but grabbed her stuff, and told Puck brusquely that she was leaving. When she put her shoes back on, Brittany caught a glimpse of her face, and was surprised to see she had tears in her eyes.

"Hey, babe, don't leave," Puck pleaded, reaching out to touch her. "Don't," Santana said, jerking her arm out of his grasp, tears now running down her face freely.

Brittany felt weirdly sad, seeing her crying like that. She had seemed so strong just a moment ago. "Hey," she tried, "don't go, this was just a game right?"

Santana looked her straight in the eye for the first time that evening. "Not to me," she said, turned around and left.

Puck and Brittany stood there for a second, dumbfounded. "What the hell, dude," Brittany finally said, "what is wrong with her?" "I don't know," Puck sighed, sounding confused. "Well, shouldn't you go after her?" Brittany asked. "I don't know where she lives," Puck admitted.

* * *

Later that nigh,t in bed, Brittany couldn't sleep. She had scratches on her face, and a couple of bruises on her arms and stomach, but that wasn't what was keeping her awake. No, she couldn't get those deep chocolate brown eyes out of her head. Brown eyes that had looked straight into her soul, reflecting a sudden sadness Brittany had never seen before.

She was utterly and completely infatuated with Santana, on a level that went much further than sex. But she was with Puck. Brittany would never try to steal a girl from them, but she had never been surer of anything in her life: Puck wasn't right for Santana.

* * *

Okay, I hope that was okay... Here's the question: who should Puck eventually end up with? 'Cause Brittany is obviously gonna get the girl eventually :)

Or should he just stay single?

Let me know your thoughts!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you guys again for all the reviews and alerts! The response to this has been really overwhelming! I hope you'll continue to read this, and more importantly like this! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint... To those of you who were in it for the fight, I'm sorry but that was a one time thing ;)

Enjoy!

* * *

Two weeks later Puck told Brittany he broke up with Santana. "Why?" did Brittany ask." She was still reeling from her experience with the girl, and although Santana undoubtedly wasn't the easiest person to be in a relationship with – definitely not for Puck, as she had concluded – she still couldn't understand how someone would willingly let a girl like Santana go.

She didn't know how to feel about this. Even though Santana hadn't seemed all that comfortable with Puck, she still felt really bad for her. She was new in this town, and as far as she knew, Puck had been the only person she knew. At the same time, her heart soared. Maybe, if she waited long enough, Puck wouldn't mind if she asked Santana out. He had dumped her after all, his loss.

She immediately frowned at herself for thinking that though. Santana was obviously straight, and even worse, she apparently hated Brittany.

Her and Puck ended up celebrating his new-found single status by going to a new bar in the next town over. They had both ended up going home with a girl, and although it had been way too long since Brittany had had sex, sleeping with this girl was less than satisfying. Her eyes weren't as deep, her hair wasn't as soft, and her lips weren't as pouty as those of the girl she couldn't get out of her head.

Brittany fled the girl's apartment early the next morning, before she woke up. She walked the few blocks to the diner where she and Puck had agreed to meet, since they rode in one car the night before. Brittany ordered some coffee and sat down, she knew it would probably be a while before Puck would get there, and she had nothing but her thoughts to distract her.

She desperately needed to talk somebody about this, but she couldn't tell Puck about how hung up she was on his ex, who had kicked her ass the one time they met. She decided to call Sam, her cousin who lived in New York. Other than Puck, he was probably who Brittany considered her closest friend. When he picked up though, it was obvious that he had still been asleep, and when she tried to explain, he didn't understand why she was interested in a girl who had it out for her.

Frustrated, Brittany said goodbye, and resigned herself to waiting for Puck, deciding that she had to forget about Santana.

* * *

Her plan sort of worked, she just made sure to stay extra busy, and to spend as little time alone as possible. The only thing she hadn't taken into account was that Santana lived in Rowesville too. And in a town as small as theirs, people ran into each other inevitably.

The first time Brittany saw her, Santana didn't notice. She felt like a creeper, but she wasn't really hiding, Santana just seemed very distracted. She was on her phone, like she had been at the bar, after they met. Brittany usually never even brought her phone with her when she went grocery shopping, but she guessed Santana needed it with her.

Santana looked even prettier than Brittany remembered in what she assumed were her work clothes: impossibly high cream colored heels, a pencil skirt, and a soft pink blouse. Her hair which had been loose that night in the bar, was done up. It looked very complicated to Brittany, but the best part was the tiny curl that had escaped and framed her face in the best way possible.

That night, Brittany lay awake again.

* * *

Two weeks later, she saw her again, in the same grocery store. This time Santana looked different though. She was wearing a pair of faded jeans, flip flops, and an Abercrombie hoodie. Her hair was loose again, but it was messy, more like it had been after their fight than before.

To Brittany she still looked beautiful.

This time Santana did see her. She looked up from her grocery list, and stared straight at her. She immediately looked away again though. Brittany thought she seemed ashamed, about what she wasn't sure. Maybe Santana wasn't used to picking fights with girls in bars after all.

She also looked sad. Even more sad than she had after the fight. Brittany fought the urge to wrap her arms around this girl, the biggest mystery she had ever encountered. But she figured that would make Santana freak, so she continued her shopping, alone.

* * *

The third time she saw her, was when they talked. Brittany was at hers and Puck's favorite bar again, it was a Tuesday. Puck had disappeared a while ago though, so Brittany was just talking to some of the guys who always hung out there, casually checking out the girls that came and went.

Around midnight, the door opened, and Santana walked in with a guy Brittany knew was a teacher at the high school too. Santana looked really uncomfortable, she probably didn't have the best memories attached to this place.

Her and the guy, Brittany thought his name was John, went to sit down in one of the booths. They got their drinks and struck up a conversation. Brittany noticed that Santana wasn't really relaxing. She also noticed that her date, or whatever he was, was drinking at a very high speed. They couldn't have been there for a half hour, and he must have been on at least his fifth drink already.

Brittany was now no longer taking part in the conversation going on around her, solely devoted to watching Santana, who was very distracted again. She hadn't seen Brittany. Brittany was pretty sure she he hadn't seen anybody else either though, because she kept her eyes glued to the table.

A little later, John must have been on his eighth drink, he finally got the courage to put his arm around Santana. She flinched lightly, but allowed it. Brittany was on edge, she didn't like this guy's vibe.

Brittany couldn't make out what was happening under the table, but John was clearly taking it one step further now, blatantly coming on to Santana, who shook her head, saying something. The second time he tried to kiss her, she shoved him away from her. The third time he tried, Brittany punched him in the face.

Santana was staring at her wide-eyed, but grateful – at least that's what Brittany thought.

* * *

She didn't even remember walking over to that table.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks again for all the reactions! Means the world!

I hope you'll all like this new chapter, enjoy and let me know what you think!

* * *

Brittany and Santana were leaning against the wall outside of the bar. Brittany had been kicked out after her little stunt, even though Santana had insisted she had come to her defense. She luckily hadn't been banned forever; the bartender had just told her to go cool off outside.

He gave her some ice for her hand to take with her. Santana was currently carefully wrapping that ice around her right hand. She still wasn't really talking to Brittany, but for the first time there was no animosity in her eyes, and she didn't seem as distracted as usual.

When the ice bandage was securely wrapped, Santana let go of her arm, Brittany already missing the feel of her dainty, soft fingers. Both girls just stood there quietly for a moment, the silence somehow, miraculously, not awkward.

Brittany stood watching the stars and feeling sappy, when Santana finally broke the silence. "Thank you," she almost whispered. "It's no big deal," Brittany answered immediately. Truth was, she would have probably done the same thing for just about any girl, when someone said no, it meant no, and guys should just learn to respect that. Defending Santana had still felt a thousand times better than defending a random girl though.

* * *

"And I'm sorry about the other day. I don't know why I went off on you like that. I never do that," Santana added, still speaking very quietly. Brittany looked at her, and just like last time, she seemed to be ashamed of herself.

Brittany couldn't remember the last time she had been ashamed of her own behavior. Sure, she did the occasional thing that she later regretted, and she wasn't always proud of her actions. Sleeping with that girl the other day, for example, had been a mistake and Brittany felt kind of bad about it, a little guilty, but not ashamed. She was never really one to dwell on things like that.

She hoped she would be able to convince Santana that she didn't need to be ashamed either. Clearly something had been bothering her that night, and she had taken it out on Brittany, not that big of a deal, Brittany could handle it.

"Don't worry about it, Santana, it really wasn't that big a deal." She shot her what was meant to be an encouraging smile, but Santana looked at the ground, obviously thinking Brittany was lying.

"Hey," Brittany said softly, touching Santana's arm – her fingertips tingled and she was happy that Santana didn't flinch like she had seen her do before at unexpected touches – "look at me".

Santana looked up, bashfully, and Brittany felt herself getting lost in those deep brown orbs again. Focus Britt, she told herself. "It was sort of fun okay," she continued, having decided on a different tactic, "it's not every day a pretty girl literally jumps me". She grinned, and was elated when Santana returned her grin with a tiny smile. It made her heart jump.

"But if you still feel bad about it," she went on – bracing herself for Santana's reaction, because she was taking a big risk – "how about you buy me a cup of coffee, and then we can both forget about it forever?"

Santana frowned. "You don't even want to know why I acted so crazy?" "You're not crazy," Brittany immediately said, "and no, I don't need to know, I'm sure you were dealing with something else, it's none of my business". She was surprised to realize that she actually meant it. She was still intrigued by Santana, she couldn't read her at all, but she truly didn't particularly care about the exact reasons behind the fight.

"Good," Santana breathed, "because I don't even know what happened. I usually never do that." "You said that before," Brittany grinned, "and you seriously need to stop it now. So how about that cup of coffee, huh?" She honestly didn't know where she was getting the courage to be forward like this. She had plenty of game in other situations, but Santana threw her off so completely – it was like a whole different ball game.

"Would that be like a date?" Santana asked softly, sounding worried. "It could be whatever you want it to be," Brittany answered, not meaning it at all. She honestly didn't think she could just be friends with this girl. If she never saw her again, maybe she'd get over it eventually, but if they'd become friends, Brittany knew she would perpetually long for more.

"It can't be a date," Santana said, sounding apologetic. "Why? Is this because of Puck? 'Cause I'll talk to him. He'll understand." Brittany genuinely thought Puck wouldn't be too terribly upset, he didn't seem hung up on Santana, and had slept with about three girls since.

"It's not about Puck," Santana said. "Why then, is it because I'm a girl?" "Yeah, I'm sorry, but I can't go on a date with a girl." She sounded like she actually was sorry, and Brittany thought she saw a flicker of longing in her eyes. It was gone soon though, replaced by a hard look that said 'don't challenge me'.

Brittany was genuinely confused. Santana said 'I can't', not 'I won't'. What did she mean by that? And why did she sound like she actually did want to go?

* * *

"Look Santana," Brittany said, "it's okay if this is new to you, I mean, there's no pressure, we can just see wherever this goes. One date wouldn't mean we'd be a couple or anything like that."

Wrong move, Santana looked like a deer caught in the head lights. "I have to go," she said, pushing herself away from the wall, and walking towards the parking lot.

"Wait!" Brittany yelled. "Please don't just leave! We can talk about this, all right, I'm sorry! We can just be friends!" Santana turned around, tears in her eyes again. "I'm sorry, Brittany, but I really can't. Please just leave me alone, please," she pleaded, sounding desperate.

* * *

Brittany watched her get into her car and take off. She was beyond confused, and very disappointed. But above all, she wanted to get to know Santana now more than ever before.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: just a warning: I don't know anything about cars at all, so I'm sorry for the very vague descriptions in that department. I only chos that profession because I though grease monkey!Brittany would be kind of hot :p

I hope you'll all like this chapter, let me know your thoughts!

* * *

After that night Brittany fell in some sort of funk. Having the girl of her dreams turn her down for reasons she didn't understand was frustrating. She had been turned down before – even though she didn't like admitting it – but that had always been because the other girl hadn't been interested. With Santana things were different, and to make it worse, she had never been infatuated with somebody like she was now.

She was still desperately trying to get Santana out of her head, partying more than usual, sleeping around more than usual, but she kept thinking about those gorgeous eyes. She knew it was pathetic, she barely even knew Santana, but she just couldn't help it.

* * *

About three months later, Brittany's life had pretty much gone back to the way it had been before. She still thought about Santana every single day, but she had accepted that nothing could ever happen between them.

She was hard at work one afternoon, fixing someone's motorcycle – those were her favorite – when she suddenly heard a soft voice. She looked up and thought she was hallucinating when she saw Santana standing in front of her. She was even more beautiful than she remembered, wearing a pink sundress and her hair down. She looked like an exotic flower – very out of place in the dingy workshop.

Brittany nervously wiped her hands on her coveralls, suddenly very aware of how she looked, and braced herself. She told herself to not get her hopes up, but she was disappointed anyway when Santana said: "So, uhm, I think something is wrong with my car.. It's making these strange noises or something, I'm not sure."

This description sounded so vague, that Brittany couldn't help but wonder if Santana had made it up as an excuse to come talk to her. One look at her face told her that that wasn't the case. Santana looked more uncomfortable than ever before. Thank God Puck happened to be out sick that day, or the situation would have been ten times more awkward.

"Well, let's have a look, shall we?" Brittany said, making her way over to where Santana had parked her car. Brittany quickly figured out what was wrong, and told Santana it wouldn't take long to fix, but she needed to order a part that they didn't have in stock.

They got through this technical small talk tensely, but professionally, and Brittany thought that Santana was about to leave, when she suddenly started talking: "I'm sorry to bother you with this Brittany, I would have gone somewhere else, but this is the only garage within walking distance of my place."

"Of course you can come here, Santana, just because…" her voice trailed off. She had wanted to say 'because we didn't work out', but that would have implied there was something between them to begin with, and Brittany didn't want to make Santana more tense than she already was.

Santana smiled at her sadly, not saying anything. She turned around to leave, but Brittany couldn't contain herself, and erupted: "Hey, do you, can I maybe give you a ride home?" She knew she was probably asking for trouble, but there was something in Santana's eyes that made her want to give this one more shot.

"That's okay, I can walk. Thank you though," Santana replied flatly. "No seriously, I'm about to close up shop for the day, I can take you. It's too hot for walking. Where do you live?"

"Over on Peach," Santana said, "but seriously, you don't have to go through that trouble." Brittany's eyes widened slightly, Peach avenue was at least three miles from the garage. No way she was letting Santana walk home, it was probably a 100 degrees out.

"No way," she said firmly, "come on, we're leaving." She quickly took down her coveralls, revealing a navy blue tank top and a pair of jeans shorts, and went to wash her hands. A look in the mirror showed her she had grease on her face too, but she feared that if she'd get rid of that first she would take too long and Santana would leave.

They walked over to Brittany's truck in silence, but when Brittany automatically walked over to the passenger side to open the door for Santana, she shot her a surprised and grateful smile. They got settled, and Brittany put the car in gear, when Santana, to her surprise, started talking. She was fiddling with a ring on her finger, obviously still a little nervous, but she was speaking honestly.

"I'm really sorry about how I reacted that night. I like you, I do, despite of what you may think, but I can't… We can't be anything but friends Brittany."

Brittany decided that she really needed to know, so she inquired: "Why though, Santana, are you not interested in me, or…? I mean, if you're straight, that's fine, I respect that, but the other night, it seemed like you were at least somewhat interested…" She stopped herself again, not wanting to say too much.

Santana hesitated. "I don't know what to tell you Brittany, " she whispered, "it's a long story, it's complicated.. I'm not even sure_ I_ understand it."

Brittany couldn't help but sigh, frustrated. She couldn't understand what was so complicated. If Santana liked her – or potentially liked her – why couldn't she give her a chance? They lived in an open-minded town, it wasn't an issue or anything.

Meanwhile however, they had made it to Peach avenue, so Brittany asked the only thing she could ask in that moment: directions. Santana told her her house number, and Brittany carefully pulled up on the driveway of a neat little one-story house.

"Thank you so much, you really didn't have to do this," Santana said, opening the door. "Wait!" Brittany said. She had realized all of a sudden that Santana lived a full two miles away from the high school. Despite the sweltering heat, it was only late May, so Santana still had to work. "How are you getting to school in the morning?" Brittany asked. "I'll walk," Santana answered, "I used to live in New York, that's what you do there, you walk."

What about cabs or the subway, Brittany thought to herself, but deeming it unimportant, she let it go. "Hey, you know, I only live a couple blocks away, the school is on my way to work, I can take you. It's really not a problem."

Santana visibly hesitated. "Come on, it'll be fun! I could use the company." "Fine," Santana gave in "it is kind of hot these days." Brittany had to restrain a fist pump, she couldn't believe she would actually get to see Santana when it was_ planned_.

The girls arranged the time Brittany should be there in the morning, and Santana finally started getting out of the car a second time. All of a sudden, she changed her mind and turned her head, wanting to kiss Brittany on the cheek in thanks, but Brittany was turning her head at the exact same time, and their lips met. Their kiss lasted several seconds, before Santana pulled away, flustered. She hurried out of the car, not looking back.

* * *

Brittany just sat there, her hand touching her lips. That had been the single best kiss she had ever experienced.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Here's another chapter for you guys! Maybe not the most exciting one, but I still like it better than the previous chapter :p

Hope you enjoy it as well, let me know what you think! All the alerts, reviews and favorites mean a lot to me, so thank you!

* * *

The next morning Brittany was so excited that she woke up at five in the morning and she even decided to wear her favorite shirt which read "motocross chicks rule" on the front. She knew she was kind of dorky, getting this excited over giving Santana a ride, but she couldn't help the massive grin that seemed to be stuck on her face.

After a long internal debate last night, she had decided to pretend the kiss didn't happen. It truly had been an accident, and although she still thought just being friends would be hard, she had decided to give it at least a chance, determined to not let things get awkward.

She finally left the house at around 7 AM even though she knew she would be early, but she was running up the walls, so she didn't see the point in torturing herself any longer. She braided her long hair looking in the hallway mirror and put her bare feet in her low converse sneakers.

Ready to go, she got in her car, and drove the short distance to her dream girl's house. As she was indeed a full fifteen minutes early, she considered staying in the car, but she wanted to see the inside of Santana's house really badly, so she collected her courage, and rang the doorbell.

Santana opened the door a couple moments later, already dressed in a tight red dress that should probably be illegal – or at least not allowed on school grounds – but her face was still bare of any make up.

"I'm not ready yet," she said, apologetically, "but you can come in, make yourself comfortable. There's coffee in the kitchen." After that, she disappeared in what Brittany assumed was the bathroom. Clearly Santana had opted for the same strategy, not mentioning anything about last night.

Since she had just brushed her teeth, she didn't take any coffee, choosing instead to look around, hoping it wouldn't be considered rude. Santana's living room was very cozy, Brittany thought, a little on the small side, but plenty big enough for one person . There was artwork on the walls, and what looked like a self-made quilt was thrown over the couch.

There were certain things though, that confused Brittany. On the fridge there were at least ten drawings that must have been made by a small child. There were several pictures in the living room of a small dark-haired girl, just her in some pictures, Santana with her in others. In those pictures, Brittany noticed, Santana smiled like she had never seen her do before.

Seeing the resemblance between the little girl and Santana, Brittany concluded that she had to be Santana's niece. Not wanting to seem nosy, she decided not to ask Santana about it, not now that the other girl finally seemed somewhat comfortable in her presence.

Santana reappeared a couple of minutes later with her make up done. "Can I ask you something?" she said, sounding shy. "Yeah sure, what's up? Brittany answered, her eyes involuntary glued to Santana's figure. "Do you… do you think this dress is appropriate for teaching? You can be honest, it's just that I'm sort of running out of outfits for this kind of weather, but I don't want to give the wrong impression, you know."

Brittany hesitated, she honestly didn't know what to say. She thought Santana looked absolutely stunning, but more like she was ready to go out to a party or something. Eventually she opened her mouth: "well, I'm not sure, you are teaching horny teenage boys right?"

Santana blushed, deeper than Brittany had ever seen a person with skin as dark as hers blush. "I guess," she muttered. "I'll just go change," she sighed, "I knew it was too much." Brittany sputtered, she really didn't think Santana should go to school dressed like that, but that didn't mean she hadn't been enjoying the sight. Santana was determined however, so Brittany couldn't do anything but stare at her ass as she turned around.

A couple minutes later, Santana reappeared, wearing a skirt that was still pretty tight, but several inches longer than the dress had been, and a soft yellow short sleeved blouse. She looked cute but professional, Brittany thought. "That's perfect, why didn't you put that on the first time around?"

"I wore this outfit last week," Santana pouted. Brittany giggled, _too cute_, she thought. "You look great, don't worry," she said, not meaning anything by it, but she noticed Santana blushed again. "Let's go," she said, ignoring the sudden tension, "you don't want to be late." It actually had gotten pretty late because of the whole clothes debate.

Santana locked the front door, and they got in the car, Brittany once again opening the door for Santana. She struggled to get into the massive truck, wearing high heels. Brittany resisted the urge to help her, deciding it would require a level of physical intimacy neither of them was ready for, albeit for different reasons.

"Why do you drive such a ridiculous thing anyway?" Santana huffed, when she had settled into her seat. Brittany took off, and answered: "I need the bed to be this big so I can transport my bikes." "You're a cyclist?" Santana sounded confused. Brittany laughed, "motorbikes," she specified, "it's on the shirt," she grinned, pointing at the words across her chest, Santana read the message, and blushed again, presumably at the location of the letters.

"Why do you ride motorcycles?" Santana asked. Now it was Brittany's turn to be confused. "Why wouldn't I?" She said, frowning. She had started at the tender age of five, and it had been her passion ever since. She still competed occasionally, hence the need to transport her babies. She had two competition bikes, and a regular one.

"What I mean is, how does somebody, how does a girl get into that sort of thing?" "My dad was a professional rider," Brittany answered, "I started as a child, never stopped." Santana looked slightly alarmed at the notion of a kid Brittany on a bike. "Is that safe?" she asked. Brittany smiled, "sure is, if you do it in a professional environment, with someone who knows what they're doing."

Santana hummed in response. "It still seems scary to me," She admitted. "It's the best feeling in the world," Brittany grinned, "I could take you for a ride, some time, if you want?" Santana smiled, "I'm not sure I'd be up for that," she said. "I wouldn't let anything happen to you," Brittany teased.

Santana laughed, "maybe," she agreed. "Yes," Brittany fist-pumped. Santana laughed again. All tension had dissolved between the girls. It was actually remarkable how comfortable they had gotten with each other, after all they'd had a very rocky start, and they still didn't know each other very well.

Brittany was sad to see the high school appear before them, and she reluctantly pulled over when they got there. "What time do you finish?" Brittany asked, hoping they would get to continue their conversation this afternoon.

"Uhm, around three," Santana answered hesitantly, "surely you're not done before that?" "Puck can handle the last couple of hours by himself," Brittany said brightly, he had texted her last night to say he'd be back today.

"If you're really sure…" "Yup, very," Brittany deadpanned, "now get going, I'll see you at three!" Santana waved a goodbye and took off towards the main entrance. Brittany left for work, in the best mood she had been in in a long time. Things were definitely looking up.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Hi there! Sorry about not updating yesterday, but here's a new chapter for you guys! Please let me know your thoughts, and enjoy!

* * *

When Brittany picked Santana up that afternoon, conversation between them flowed even easier than it had in the morning. Brittany had realized that it was easier to let Santana sort of direct the conversation. She finally seemed fully relaxed in her company.

Brittany was really happy about this development, the only problem was that hearing Santana's laugh, that now freely ran through the truck as they bantered like they had known each other forever, made her infatuation worse. She had this really full, striking laugh, and Brittany thought it was literally the cutest thing in the world.

That night in bed she dreamed about Santana – she had had many dreams about the girl in the past weeks – but this dream was different. She woke up with flushed cheeks and sticky underwear and a vague memory of that red dress Santana had been wearing the day before being peeled of the girl's body with painstaking care, with the sole purpose of taunting Brittany.

She took a cold shower and tried to hide her embarrassment when she looked Santana in the eye later that morning. During the ride, Brittany inquired about Santana's other needs, except getting to and from school.

Unlike most other modern town, Rowesville actually had a down town area that held a couple of stores – enough to meet most people's basic needs – where people still ran their errands on foot, but Santana's house was over two miles from that area, so getting there without a car was not that easy.

As Brittany had expected, Santana brushed the idea off, saying she was fine, but it took little convincing to get her to agree to go grocery shopping that afternoon. They decided to just meet at the store, since the school was actually down town too.

* * *

When Brittany got to the store, Santana already had her basket half full. Brittany noticed she had plenty of fruits and vegetables – more than she ate in a month to be perfectly honest – but also random things like juice boxes and animal crackers.

If it would have been anyone else, Brittany would just have laughingly asked if they weren't a little old for animal crackers, but with Santana she didn't risk it, and instead quietly wondered just how many sides there were to this girl.

On the ride home – despite Brittany's earlier restraint – things got a little awkward again when Brittany asked Santana about New York. Dealing with Santana was like walking through a mine field, Brittany was soon learning. She had no idea what set the girl off this time, but although Santana initially answered her questions, she had tensed up considerably, and her earlier good mood had disappeared.

All Brittany had asked was: "So, you said you moved here from New York. Is that were you grew up?" Brittany had immediately noticed that she chose the wrong topic, but Santana answered nonetheless: "No, I grew up in Ohio. I moved to New York for college." "Really, you grew up in Ohio, I wouldn't have pegged you for a Midwestern girl," Brittany had answered, intrigued by each little detail that was revealed about the girl.

Santana had become more tense. "Why? Because I'm Latina?" Brittany cringed. That was not what she had meant, but she realized how it must have sounded. "Uhm, no, because you look so sophisticated!" She had meant it as a compliment, but Santana hadn't answered at all.

Brittany knew she shouldn't stay on this topic, but she couldn't leave a conversation unfinished like that either, so she continued: "Anyways, why did you move? Did you not like New York?"

"I just needed a change of air," Santana said dismissively, clearly announcing that she was done talking about this now.

* * *

Brittany relented, and they drove in silence for a little bit. All too soon, they were at Santana's house. Desperate to not leave things like they were – it was Friday night, so they wouldn't see each other again until Monday morning – Brittany asked if Santana needed anything at all during the weekend.

She told Brittany that she would be fine, but her tone had gotten considerably softer, and her shoulders weren't hunched like they had been before.

"Okay," Brittany said quietly, disappointed, "but if you need anything, seriously anything at all, please don't hesitate to call me, okay?" She would personally hate the feeling of being trapped in her house all weekend without a car. Luckily Santana would have her car back on Tuesday. Unfortunately for Brittany that also meant she wouldn't need rides anymore.

"I will, Britt, but seriously, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself," Santana smiled, lightly rubbing Brittany's arm, which promptly felt like it had been set on fire. Brittany blushed, this was the first time Santana had willingly touched her – well apart from the time she accidently kissed her, but they were both still pretending that never happened.

"Okay then, see you on Monday," Brittany gave in, as Santana got out of the truck.

* * *

As she had expected, she didn't hear from Santana the next day. She went out for a drink with Puck, but not feeling in the mood to party or to flirt with random girls, she went home around eleven and went straight to bed.

When her phone rang at three AM, it took her several seconds to realize what was going on, and a couple more to detect the damn thing. "Hello?" she confusedly muttered.

* * *

"Brittany? It's Santana… I'm sorry to call at this hour, but I just didn't know what to do, and," she was rambling, and Brittany interrupted her: "Hey, it's okay, San, just tell me what you need, all right," she said, trying to make her voice sound calm even though she was freaking out. Santana sounded really upset.

"Okay," Santana said, audibly taking deep breaths, "could you come over? I need a ride." "Yeah, absolutely," Brittany said, already stepping into the pair of jeans she had kicked off earlier that night. "I'm on my way, I'll be there in two minutes, hang on," she said, before hanging up the phone so she could put a shirt on. She made her way into the hall way, frantically looking for her shoes and for her keys, and ran out to her car.

During the two minute drive, she tried not to consider the options of what could be going on at Santana's house. She pulled into her driveway, and since she didn't see anything out of order, she got out and rang the doorbell.

A frantic Santana opened the door, wearing what Brittany supposed were her pajamas. More importantly however, she was also carrying a child on her hip, a child that was wailing pitifully.

* * *

Santana looked at her apologetically as the child - staring up at Santana with big brown eyes – whined: "mommy, mommy".


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hi there guys! Here's the new chapter! Thank you so much for all the response to last chapter! I love hearing what you guys think, and I hope you'll continue to do so.

Enjoy!

* * *

Brittany just stood there dumbfounded. Sure, the animal crackers made a lot more sense now, but where had this kid suddenly appeared from? Why hadn't she seen her before? And why hadn't Santana told her she had a freaking kid?

Even though her feelings were hurt, she decided that now wasn't the time for questions. She knew that Santana was too proud to call her for something unimportant, so apparently something was wrong with the kid – who still hadn't stopped crying desperately, despite Santana's efforts to soothe her, rocking her on her hip.

"I'm sorry, Britt," Santana said, and Brittany's heart ached, because Santana had never called her that before, and no matter how happy she was that Santana gave her a nickname, she was too overcome by shock, and, quite frankly, anger, to enjoy the moment.

"I know I haven't been honest with you, but could you please give us a ride to the hospital?" Santana looked so sad, and – again – so ashamed, that Brittany's anger dissipated slightly as she realized she would give anything in the world to have Santana not looking like that.

"Of course I can, what is wrong with her?" she said, stepping into the hallway. "I don't know," Santana said, and exhaustion showed on her face. "She has a really high fever, and she's nauseous, and her tummy aches. I'm not sure if we should actually go the hospital for this, but I've never seen her like this. Ever."

"Well, then we should get going," Brittany said determinately. She didn't know anything about children, but she figured Santana's motherly instincts were probably correct. No one could read a child like its mother could, right? Even if she had never seen said mother and child together.

"Right," Santana said softly, moving towards the front door. "Uhm, Santana, maybe you should, I don't know, put some more clothes on first?" Brittany blushed, because as she said this, she couldn't help but look at Santana's body, and especially her legs.

She was wearing the shortest shorts ever, and her legs seemed to go on forever, even if Santana was several inches shorter than her. Santana blushed in return, and said: "Uhm, yeah, hold on a second." She turned around, still carrying her daughter, and disappeared into her bedroom.

Brittany was left in the hallway, standing around awkwardly, but Santana soon reappeared, wearing sweatpants and a hoodie. She put her feet in a pair of Uggs – even though it was still as hot out as it had been the past days – all the while still balancing the child on her hips, albeit precariously.

Brittany couldn't help but stare in wonderment. Santana looked like she did this every day – which she obviously did – but Brittany still couldn't wrap her head around the whole idea.

* * *

They made their way outside, and after Brittany had opened the car door for Santana, she got in on her own side, carefully but awkwardly lifting the child out of Santana's arms so she could climb in.

As soon as they were all settled – the little girl on Santana's lap – Brittany took off. "How far is the hospital?" Santana asked, worry etching her voice. "About fifteen minutes," Brittany said, "don't worry, I'm sure she'll be fine." Brittany didn't actually know that, but she thought it couldn't hurt to try and reassure Santana either way.

"What's her name?" Brittany asked, trying to make the time go by faster by small talk. "Helena," Santana said, "but I usually call her Lennie." Brittany smiled at that, Lennie sounded pretty cute. "And how old is she?" "She's four, she actually had her birthday just a couple of weeks ago, didn't you baby?" Santana asked, looking down at the kid, who had been pretty out of it this whole time. The only response Santana got was a quiet moan.

Santana sighed, and rubbed her eyes. Brittany felt useless, but tried to focus on driving. The least she could do was get them there safely.

A couple of minutes later, they arrived at the hospital, Brittany knowing where the E.R. was straight away, because she had once had to take Puck after he had jumped out of a window while drunk. She really didn't know why she was friends with him most of the time.

They made their way inside, and even though Brittany felt out of place, there was never any doubt in her mind about whether or not she should go with the little family. She stood a couple of feet away as Santana had Helena admitted, but she couldn't help but overhear when Santana told the nurse her daughter's full name was Helena Montgomery.

That meant Helena's father had at least been in the picture until after she had been born, and her heart sunk a little lower at the knowledge.

* * *

After that, things went fast. They only had to wait a couple minutes before a young doctor took Santana and Helena to an exam room, while Brittany stayed behind in the waiting area. She passed the time by resting her eyes – she could sleep anywhere – and woke up when she felt somebody sit down next to her. She opened her eyes, and saw Santana, her face covered in tears.

"What happened?" she asked, shocked, "where's Helena?" Santana started sobbing fully, and Brittany could barely understand her as she uttered: "they're taking her into the O.R. right now, for emergency surgery. Brittany's heart sunk impossibly lower, this night was just going from bad to worse. "Why?" she stammered, "what is wrong with her?"

Through her sobs, Santana managed "they're taking her appendix out!" Brittany choked back a sigh of relief. That wasn't too bad right? Santana was obviously upset because her four-year-old needed surgery, but at least she would be okay.

"Hey," Brittany whispered, trying to get Santana to look at her, "it's gonna be okay. She's gonna be just fine." That brought about another round of sobs, and Santana just sort of collapsed into Brittany, her head on her chest.

* * *

As Brittany was rubbing Santana's back in what she hoped was a soothing manner, she felt guilty for being happy because she finally got to hold the girl in her arms. It was the best feeling in the world.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: hi there! Thanks again for the reviews and the alerts, they make me really happy and keep me motivated :) keep them coming! :)

This is sort of a filler chapter, but I hope you'll still enjoy it! Let me know what you think!

* * *

After a couple of minutes, Santana calmed down a little. She sat up, wiping her eyes. To Brittany she looked heartbreakingly beautiful, her face wet with tear streaks. She started digging in her purse, and got out a cell phone.

"I have to call Helena's dad," Santana said, her expression neutral. It was killing Brittany, not knowing anything about this guy, or what Santana's relationship to him was. Obviously they weren't married, since Santana didn't have a ring, and she assumed they weren't together either, because Santana had dated Puck, and she had gone out with the one guy that Brittany had had to punch in the face.

She still didn't like the idea of someone being connected to Santana so intimately though. No matter what the situation between them was right now, they were still forever bound to each other by the fact that they shared a kid.

Santana took a deep breath, seemingly bracing herself, and got up, walking a few feet away, while dialing the number.

Brittany couldn't hear what was being said, but judging from Santana's body language the conversation wasn't going that well. She looked upset, and Brittany hoped this dude wasn't like blaming Santana for what happened or anything. She wished that she could hear the conversation, so she could jump to Santana's defense if necessary.

A short while later, Santana disconnected the call, and walked back over to where Brittany was sitting. "Is he coming over?" Brittany asked, thinking that that was a logical assumption. Santana however, scoffed. "Yeah right," she said, "mostly he was mad at me for waking him up in the middle of the night. It's like he doesn't even care about his own daughter."

Her bottom lip quivered precariously, and Brittany put her arm around Santana again, in an attempt to comfort her. "Where does he live?" she inquired, trying to sound neutral, but failing. Santana's life was just like one big mystery to her, and Brittany couldn't stand it.

"He's still in New York," Santana answered, her voice weak. "Look, Britt, I know I owe you an explanation, and an apology, but I really rather not talk about this right now, okay? I'm just really worried about Lennie, so can we do this later?"

"Yeah of course, don't worry," Brittany said, feeling like an ass for asking about this right now. She started rubbing Santana's back again, humming a tune, hoping to soothe her momentarily. Soon, Brittany noticed Santana's breathing evening out, and although she wasn't asleep, she was much calmer now.

About an hour later a doctor came out to talk to Santana. They were still sitting in the same position, Brittany's arm around Santana protectively, but Santana sat up as she saw the doctor approach. She stood up seemingly strong, but Brittany could see that she was shaking slightly.

"Everything went great," the doctor said, getting straight to the point. "She should start waking up in a little bit. I'll take you to her room, and you can sit with her while you wait."

Santana promptly started sobbing again, in relief this time, and Brittany automatically got up to hug her. They lingered for a bit, and it felt really nice, but soon the doctor interrupted them, coughing awkwardly. "Right," he said, "her room is this way."

"Uhm, I can wait here?" Brittany said, unsure about what she should do. Santana surprised her though when she said: "please come with me?" "Of course," Brittany answered, internally happy.

They followed the doctor, hand in hand, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world. But Brittany tried to refrain herself from reading too much into all the physical contact the night had brought. Santana was upset, and she needed a friend, nothing more than that, she told herself.

They made it to the children's wing, where the hallways were decorated with bright images of all sorts of fluffy animals, and the doctor led them to Helena's room.

Brittany could feel Santana's worry as they saw the girl lying in a hospital bed that made her look tiny. She looked fragile, and so young, and it got to Brittany, who couldn't even begin to imagine how Santana had to feel, seeing her daughter like this.

They sat down after the doctor told them he'd be back to check on Helena soon, and Santana was rubbing away a couple more tears. "I'm sorry I'm being such an emotional wreck, but it's just, she's all I have in this world, and the thought of something happening to her, I just can't bear it."

Brittany's heart broke when she saw the girl who always acted all tough break down like this. "Hey," she said softly," I'm here okay, you've got me on your side."

Santana looked up at her gratefully, and with what Brittany thought was trust. She solemnly vowed to herself that she would be worthy of that trust, no matter how precarious it was right now, and she decided that she would do her best to take care of Santana, and of that little girl whom she still knew so little about.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Here you go guys, another chapter! I'd love to hear what you think, or if you have any suggestions! Thanks again to those f you who review/favorite/alert.

Enjoy!

* * *

After Santana's emotional outburst, both girls fall silent. They had gotten settled in the uncomfortable hospital chairs, and Brittany soon falls asleep once again.

When she wakes up it is light out, and she is sore all over. As she stretches, she notices the touching scene in front of her. Santana had gotten into the hospital bed with Helena, and now mother and daughter were both fast asleep, Helena's face tucked in the crook of Santana's shoulder and chin.

Brittany was content to just sit and watch them for a while, but a doctor – a different one from the night before – soon comes in. He apologizes to Brittany, but says he has to wake both of them up to talk to Santana and check Helena's vitals and her incision.

Brittany gets up and lightly shakes Santana's shoulder, and then, hesitantly, Helena's. Neither of them wakes up immediately, so it takes Brittany a couple more attempts. Eventually they both open their eyes, and Brittany thinks their identical look of sleepy bewilderment is hilarious.

Eventually Santana notices the doctor standing in the room, and she quickly sits up, embarrassed. The doctor quickly assesses Helena, assuring Santana that she's doing well under the circumstances, and during their quick chat Brittany learns that Helena woke up hours ago, panicking because she didn't understand where she was. That's when Santana had gotten into bed with her, to calm her down, and after that they both fell asleep.

Brittany chastises herself for having missed all of that, some support she is.

The doctor leaves the room, telling them that Helena will be discharged in 24 hours, if she continues to recover at the same pace. At that Brittany checks her watch. It is now 10 AM, and she is starving. "Are you hungry?" she asks Santana. The brunette quickly shakes her head no, but then her stomach grumbles, and blushingly she admits: "maybe a little."

Brittany offers to go pick them something up, if Santana doesn't mind that she makes a quick stop home to shower and change. Santana seems a little taken aback all of a sudden, as if she is suddenly realizing something.

"Britt, you know you don't have to stay with us, right? I'm mean I can't thank you enough for the ride in the middle of the night, but it's not like you owe us anything."

Brittany doesn't know if she should be offended that Santana would think she minded hanging out here or grateful that Santana doesn't take her for granted. It's not like she has anything else going on today, and right now Santana is pretty much the most important person in her life right now. She doesn't tell her that though, for fear of sounding like a creep.

"Don't worry about it San, I don't mind at all. I mean, unless you don't want the company?" Santana blushes deep red again. Seriously, what is it with this girl? Brittany never thought of herself as good with talking about feelings, but Santana is seriously hopeless. She pulls herself together though and manages to say: "No, I do, if you don't mind, I just don't want you to feel like obligated or something, you know, you've done so much already."

Brittany considers this. She supposes that you could say that. After all she still doesn't know Santana very well. But the brunette has wormed her way into her heart very quickly, so she never really thought of it as helping out, it was more her looking for reasons to get to spend time with Santana. She can't tell her that though. She's actually starting to feel a little dishonest because of how much she is keeping from Santana, but she knows Santana will freak out if she brings up them becoming more than friends again.

There's sort of a weird silence between them after that, so Brittany heads out, telling Santana she will be back soon.

* * *

When she returns, both Helena and Santana are asleep again, and Brittany marvels at how truly alike they are. It's like Helena is Santana who shrunk in the laundry. She giggles loudly at her own absurd thoughts, and it wakes Santana. She instantly feels guilty. Santana still looks tired and worn out.

"Hey, I brought you a muffin and a croissant and coffee and orange juice, 'cause I don't know what you like," Brittany rambles, and she thinks Santana can't have understood a single word of that, but Santana smiles and points at the coffee and the croissant. Brittany takes the muffin and the juice, and they eat in a comfortable silence.

When they're both done, Santana starts talking. She's fiddling with her napkin, and not looking at Brittany, and the blonde can tell she's nervous. "I'm divorced you know," she says quietly, Brittany has to strain to understand her. "It's been finalized a couple of months ago."

Brittany wonders how old Santana is. Before she found out about Helena, she thought there was no way Santana was older than her, which is twenty eight, but now she wonders if maybe she's older. Being a divorced single mother at twenty eight would be really hard.

Santana continues, still looking at the floor: "I'm still fighting for full custody though. I don't know why he won't just give it to me, he doesn't care, doesn't like spending time with her, but he just wants to do anything to hurt me, you know?"

Brittany nods understandingly, even though she doesn't really know. She's never had a serious relationship. She's never had a kid, and she's never really been with a man after high school. So she doesn't know. On top of that, she can't imagine anyone wanting to hurt Santana and she clenches her fists in anger.

Santana doesn't see her do that though, and she didn't see her nod either, because she's still staring at the floor, looking shameful again, and it hurts Brittany to see her like that. But she doesn't say anything because Santana keeps talking, and she is finally getting some answers. So she sits back and listens.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: This chapter is a little different. It's pretty heavy and it was hard for me to write. Please, please, let me know what you think, as this a crucial chapter!

* * *

The next hour or so was tough for Brittany. Several emotions coursed through her veins and fought with each other. As Santana told her more about her past, she slowly started to understand more about why she was the way she was, and Brittany wished for nothing more than to be able to go back in time and change some of the events in Santana's life.

For some reason Santana started her story in New York, skipping the first eighteen years of her life. Brittany suspected there was more to say about those years too, but she let it slide for the time being, grateful for every morsel of information Santana was willing to divulge.

* * *

"I moved to New York after high schol, I got into NYU on a cheer scholarship. I lived in the dorms for two years, then I lived off campus with a roommate for two years. When I moved I didn't know a single person in the whole city. I didn't stay in touch with my family. I had dreamed of escaping to New York all of my life, but I was mainly just sad and lonely. I had acquaintances on the team, but no real friendships, there was too much underlying competition."

Santana took a deep breath, before continuing. She had been staring at the floor the whole time, and her voice sounded oddly distant, like she was talking about someone else. Her sentences were clipped and Brittany knew that this wasn't Santana pouring out her heart to her, this was Santana clinically providing facts that she felt Brittany deserved to know.

She wondered if Santana had anybody to pour her heart out to. She hoped that someday she would, to Brittany.

"I didn't date anybody or didn't see anybody for the first two years. Beginning of junior year I started dating this girl." Brittany was shocked. Somehow she hadn't expected Santana to have any experience with girls. She didn't know how to feel about this.

"She came onto me, asked me out. Every other date we went out on, she was always the one to ask me. I thought we were exclusive. I guess I was starting to fall for her. Then, after about two months, I found out that she had a boyfriend." Brittany could barely contain a gasp at this.

"I was really confused after that. I decided I wasn't going to date girls anymore. I wasn't dating guys anymore either." This was once again said matter-of-factly, and Brittany wondered about the reasoning behind it, but she didn't want to disturb Santana now that she was finally talking.

"Then, one night, halfway through senior year, I went to a party. I got really drunk. I had sex with this guy, he was in my year. It was just a one-night stand, but I got pregnant." Both of them glanced at Helena unconsciously. "I told the guy. That's where it got out of hand. His parents wanted us to get married. So we did. I wish I had never told him." Brittany shuddered once again at how clinical Santana sounded during all this.

"After graduation we moved in together. Helena was born in August. When she was born, I was doing better. I had never felt this strongly about anybody, and it felt really nice. When she was a year old, I started looking for a job. Ben didn't want me to do that, but I didn't want to be a stay-at-home mom for the rest of my life. I was twenty three. I got a teaching job. I was happier for a while. I loved Helena and I liked my job. Ben didn't mistreat me, I was doing okay."

Brittany swallowed. She had never expected how hard it would be to hear all of this, even though she had instinctively known her story to be something along these lines.

"About a year and a half ago, things started going downhill. Ben was having an affair. It wasn't his first one, but this time, he actually cared about the girl he was seeing. He was never at home. There was this girl at work. We became friends. She knew more or less about me and Ben. She had told me she was gay. She hadadmitted that she liked me. She told me I deserved more than Ben. She told me that she could feel I liked her too. I didn't. I was still friends with her, because she still understood me better than anyone else. One night she was over at my house. We were on the couch, watching T.V. She kissed me. The minute her lips touched mine, Ben came home. He saw what happened. He kicked her out, and beat me up. He was so angry."

Brittany felt nauseous. She wasn't sure how much more she could take.

"He filed for a divorce, claiming I had cheated on him. Things got ugly. Thankfully I had gone to the hospital after that night, so there was proof that he had hurt me. Thankfully Zoe, that was her name, admitted to having come onto me, that there was nothing between us. Thankfully one of his mistresses actually came forward and stood on my side. She never knew he was married."

Brittany couldn't contain another sigh. Her hands were itching to punch this guy. If she were to ever run into him, things wouldn't end well.

"We got divorced. He had to pay me half of what of the apartment we lived in was worth. He has to pay for Helena every month. We moved here, I couldn't stay in that city. He gets her two weekends a month, but he never comes to pick her up, until last week. Her grandma wanted to see her. She was with her grandma for the whole week. As I said, I am still fighting for full custody. He even told me she looks too much like me."

* * *

All of a sudden, Helena stirred. Santana stopped talking immediately. Helena was waking up slowly, and Santana lay down with her again. They spent the next two hours watching the Disney Channel, before Helena fell asleep once more. Santana looked up at Brittany, her brown eyes huge. She said: "I meant it when I said she is all I have, Brittany. She is my priority."

Brittany was confused, wasn't that obvious? Before she could break her head over it, Santana said: "now can we please talk about something else? Tell me about your motocross competitions."

Brittany had a gazillion questions, but she caught Santana's sad, pleading eyes, so she told her about her first competition, when she was six, keeping her tone light. When Santana laughed at her description of the venue, her heart soared. She'd do anything to keep hearing that laugh.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: I'm really sorry about the long wait, I hope you can all forgive me :)

I just got a small case of writers' block on top of my exams.. Anyways, exams are over, but my job is waiting for me on Monday, so I will try and do the best I can...

I hope you'll all enjoy this chapter, it's not exactly action-packed, but I just felt like you guys could use some more background on Brittany after Santana's confessions of last time... Please let me know what you think! I cherish every single review!

* * *

The three of them hung out in the hospital room for the rest of the afternoon. Helena seemed to be feeling better and she turned out to be a real chatter box. Brittany found herself laughing with the funny anecdotes the girl fluently came up with. She was glad that the little girl didn't seem to be bothered by the same somberness that hung over Santana most of the time.

Around seven that night Brittany was starving again. They had brought in Helena's dinner a while ago, but it had long since been taken away, so Brittany offered to pick her and Santana something up again. Santana reluctantly agreed, on the condition that Brittany would go home afterwards. She had work in the morning and had already done too much, according to Santana.

Brittany had eventually agreed, despite her concerns about the pair she would leave behind. Helena was supposed to be released the next morning, how were they going to get home? "We'll take a cab," Santana had said, sounding firm, making it clear that her decision was final.

Brittany had understood though, her pride wouldn't allow her to rely on someone so easily and fully either. As a compromise they did agree that Brittany would drop off some groceries at Santana's house on Monday after work. She would also make sure that Santana's car would be brought to her house on Tuesday.

Having come to this agreement, they said their goodbyes, and Brittany left the hospital. She made her way home lost in thought. She still had a hard time coming to terms with the idea of Santana as a mother, even though she had never seen anybody treat a child with more tenderness than her. On top of that she was still struggling with what Santana had told her about her past. The tone in which she had delivered her story had been one of utter defeat and Brittany got the feeling that she hadn't even heard everything yet.

* * *

She was struck by the sudden thought of how easy she had basically had it all her life, even if she had never considered this before. When she had come out at seventeen, her parents hadn't been really surprised, and they had been accepting from the start, wanting nothing more than their daughter's happiness. Most people in her environment had always reacted positively too. Of course she had encountered the occasional bigot, but Puck had usually been by her side to defend her. It wasn't as if she needed the physical help, but it was still a great feeling to have a friend who was always willing to come to her aid.

Sure, she had never been in a long term relationship, but before she had met Santana the sheer thought of that had caused her to panic, so she had never felt like she was missing anything. Mostly she was pretty content getting into as many girls' pants as possible, always trying to one-up Puck in the process.

On top of that, she had found her dream job straight away. She was happy she hadn't wasted her time and her parents' money by going to college. Messing around with cars and bikes all day had sounded like heaven to her when she was in high school, and her opinion hadn't really changed since. She hadn't exactly been born with her head in a book anyway, so not much lost there.

Her and Puck had had a part time job helping out the previous owner since their junior year, and by some lucky stroke of fate (for her and Puck, not for the guy) he had suffered a stroke about a month after their graduation. He had survived but was prohibited to work again. The first couple of years he had remained on as the owner, doing some of the paper work, and providing the young mechanics a shoulder to rely on, but three years ago he had sold them the garage, deeming them finally experienced and responsible enough to handle it. Brittany had never been prouder in her life.

If having a job that felt like a hobby wasn't enough, she also had an actual hobby, and one that she was damn good at too. She frequently competed in motocross events, and she won most of the time. She had never felt the urge to take it to a professional level, but it was pretty nice, appearing at the start, seizing up the competition and then taking home the first prize most of the time.

* * *

So all in all she had a hell of a lot going for her, and she hadn't really realized it before, but she was happy. She suddenly realized that she had been sitting in her truck, parked in her own driveway, pondering about her life for God knows how long. She cut the engine and got out, feeling foolish.

Once she had made her way inside – it somehow felt like she had been gone for ages – she looked around, slightly surprised to see that nothing had changed. Somehow she felt as if so much had changed, but in reality her and Santana stood pretty much at the same point they had before, only now she had some of the information she had been craving for. It didn't leave her feeling satisfied though.

She hadn't been home for ten minutes when the doorbell rang. Brittany wondered who it could be, she didn't usually get unexpected visitors this late on a Sunday night, or any night for that matter. She opened the door to find a frantic Puck. "Thank God" he said, hugging her so tightly that her feet left the ground for a good couple of seconds. "You can't just disappear like that, Brittany," he said, "you have a cell phone for a reason you know."

Brittany looked at him sheepishly. Her cell phone had gotten left behind in her truck last night, and she had grabbed it on her way inside without looking at it. She opened it up to see 5 missed calls and 10 text messages, all from Puck.

She hadn't disappeared for that long, had she? "Remember that we were supposed to go for a run at noon?" Puck asked her, noticing the bland look on her face. Guilt crept up on Brittany as she all of a sudden did remember.

"Where the hell were you?" he asked, sounding a little angry now that he knew she was unharmed. Brittany sighed. She hoped Puck wouldn't take this whole Santana-thing the wrong way. She really didn't want to lose her best friend on the planet, but somehow she felt that if it came down to it, she would pick Santana over Puck.

That thought crept her out tremendously though, so she desperately hoped Puck would accept the fact that she had become Santana's closest thing to a friend in all of Rowesville seemingly overnight.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Hi there guys! Here's the new chapter! I'm not too sure how I feel about it, I hope you guys like it! Please do let me know what you think, I really appreciate all reviews! I will try and update a little bit more frequently, but I am pretty busy right now, so I can't promise anything...

Enjoy!

* * *

Brittany had Puck come inside and they settled on the couch with a beer. She took a deep breath and decided to just get it over with. "I was with Santana," she said. Puck went through a couple of facial expressions before settling on confusion. "Bu.. Wh.. How?" he asked, sounding strangely defeated.

Brittany thought for a second. She hadn't really considered how quickly things had changed between her and Santana yet, so she needed some time to collect her thoughts. "She came in with her car a couple of days ago, you were sick," she started, "I needed to order a part for it, so she had to leave the car behind. I gave her a ride home."

Puck looked like he wanted to interrupt, but stopped himself and kept staring at Brittany expectantly. "I… I just offered to take her to and from school while her car was out," Brittany continued, hating how hesitant she sounded. She had never considered that this was sort of a strange arrangement for two people who hardly knew each other. Who had not gotten on well at all the one time they did hang out. She ignored the nagging feeling at the back of her head though, and continued.

"She agreed, and we, you know, discovered that we do sort of get along after all," she said weakly. If Puck would have been telling her this story about one of _her_ exes, she would not have been happy. At all. Even if the relationship hadn't lasted long. They just did not share their girls.

"We're just friends…" she tried, sounding unconvincing even to herself, even if it was the truth. Well, actually, at this point, Brittany didn't know what they were to be honest. They weren't really friends, because they hadn't known each other long enough for that. On top of that, Brittany was madly attracted to Santana, and she had a slight feeling that Santana _might_ have some sort of feelings for her too. But she couldn't tell Puck any of this because she needed to make sense of it first. To herself.

She also realized that a serious talk with Santana would have to take place at some point. This no-man's-land they were in was getting too much for Brittany to bear.

Puck seemed to understand that something was up though, because he interrupted her train of thought and said: "Look, Brittany, I want you to be honest with me, okay?" Brittany was surprised to hear no anger in his voice, just wariness. "Are you into her?" He asked her.

Brittany hesitated. Puck wanted honesty, that's what she'd give him, she decided. "Yes," she answered, "I am, I like her a lot, but it's not mutual, so there you go." She took a big swig of her beer, even though this was the easiest answer to give Puck, it didn't feel right to her at all. She was desperate for this statement not to be true, but Santana was so damn hard to read… They really really needed to talk. Brittany also wanted to find out more about Santana's previous experiences with girls. The revelation that she had dated one before, had really taken her by surprise, and she wondered if the way it had ended so badly was the only reason that had caused Santana to tell her that she _couldn't_ date a girl.

Puck looked at her, scrutinizing, as if he could see right through her. "Are you sure?" he asked. "As far as I know, pretty much every one is into you if you want them to be," he continued.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Brittany said. She wasn't being honest anymore, but the things Santana had told her were far too private to share with Puck. She realized once again that her allegiance had already shifted, and she didn't know how to feel about that.

"So what were you guys doing, that took like all weekend?" Puck asked, sounding casual. "You're not mad at me?" Brittany couldn't help but ask, wincing as she heard how surprised she sounded.

Puck looked at her, his expression more serious than she had ever seen. "Look Britt," he said, "I know we have this rule, but you know, I guess you can't help it if you're really attracted to her, I mean who wouldn't be? " He hesitated a little before continuing, "I'm not gonna pretend I like this or anything, but Santana and I were not exactly a serious thing, and since apparently she's not into you,… I mean we never said anything about being friends with each other exes, right?"

"Right…" Brittany said, letting out a big gulp of air she hadn't realized she had been holding in. She felt terrible about leaving out the oh so important details – like the fact that they had kissed, albeit accidently – but she really felt like she had no other choice.

Finally feeling ready to move on with the conversation, she said: "We were at the hospital. She has a daughter who was sick." She had tried to sound casual, but Puck was shocked nonetheless. "What?" he exclaimed. "Wow," he said softly, under his breath, "didn't see that one coming." "Yeah, me either," Brittany said, laughing nervously. They shared a quick look that told Brittany they would be okay.

"She's four, looks just like Santana," she added. Puck smiled surprisingly sweet. "I bet," he said softly.

Brittany went on to tell Puck what had been wrong with Helena, and explained that Santana was going through a divorce. Puck was relieved to hear that she hadn't been still married when they had slept together. It wasn't as if Puck had never done that before, but somehow this girl was so different, on all levels, to both of them.

Brittany couldn't leave out a description of just how asshole-y this dude was. Puck laughed at her anger, "wow, Britt, you've really got it bad," he said. She just shrugged, not wanting to get into the details of the complex situation between her and Santana.

* * *

Eventually Brittany got up to get them another beer, and they turned on the T.V., catching the last couple of innings of a baseball game. They kicked back and fell into easy conversation about the players and the season so far.

It felt good to have her friend back. For the first time in a long while she wasn't thinking about Santana, and it felt kind of good, she felt like she could finally relax.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: here's the next chapter, just laying some groundwork for what is to come! Please feel free to let me know what you think! Thanks to those of you who reveiwed last chapter, it means a lot!

Enjoy!

* * *

When Brittany woke up the following morning Santana was once again the first thing on Brittany's mind. All through eating her breakfast and getting ready for work she wondered about how Santana and Helena were doing, and when they would get home, and what they would do when they got there; the list of questions on her mind was endless.

On her way to work she passed Santana's house, which was an unnecessary detour, although not a big one. The curtains were drawn and there was no sign of life. Brittany sighed to herself, feeling like a stalker, yet unable to suppress a feeling of slight worry at the lack of movement. She chastised herself for her exaggerated behavior, telling herself that they were probably on their way home right now, and drove straight to the garage. Once at work she and Puck fell into their usual easy banter, and it turned out to be a very busy day, so she managed to avoid most thoughts about Santana until she locked down that evening.

She drove home, and had to restrain herself from driving past Santana's house again. She felt sadly proud of herself when she managed to pass Santana's street without turning into it. Once she was at home, she made herself dinner and relaxed on the couch. After she was done eating and after she had cleaned up, she started asking herself whether it would be okay to give Santana a call, or if that would seem over eager. Friends did call each other just to check up on them right? A little voice in her head added: if all you wanted to be was _friends_, you wouldn't be worrying about this so much!

While she was still pondering this, the sudden ringing of her phone had her jump a foot in the air. To her great surprise it was Santana. "Hey, Britt!" She sounded rather cheerful, Brittany noticed. "Are you busy? I can call back later…" Santana said, already sounding less sure of herself. Brittany suddenly remembered that she was supposed to say something in response. "Uh, no, no, no, now is great, not doing anything!" Smooth, Britt, she couldn't help but think, just so freaking smooth…

Santana giggles adorably, and Brittany has already forgotten about being upset about her own behavior. "So…," Santana begun, "Me and Lennie made it home safe. She's almost back to her old self, I just got her to go to sleep just now." "Really? That's great!" Brittany was genuinely happy to hear this, which was quite remarkable, since she's never really been interested in kids before. At all. She guessed liking Santana automatically means caring about her daughter too. Interesting.

"Anyways", Santana continued, "I actually called because I was wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner one night, you know, as a thank you for everything you've done for me and Len." Brittany temporarily forgot how to breathe. A dinner invitation! Surely that's got to be like a date thing, right? No, friends have dinner together, silly! Besides, she just mentioned her daughter, again, so it couldn't be a date, people's children don't attend their dates. Brittany was starting to feel more and more like a total loser. The one thing that had always gone so smoothly for her – charming girls – was now slowly driving her mad with insecurity.

Santana cleared her throat awkwardly, and Brittany once again realized she didn't answer the question. "Uhm, yeah, that sounds great!" she managed to get out. Great, her voice sounded really fake, even to her own ears. She doesn't really know why, 'cause she could barely think of anything that sounds better than having dinner with Santana. Well, she actually could, but she won't let herself do that. She can't if she wants to ever look Santana straight in the eyes again.

Santana obviously picked up on the weird tone of her voice, because she answered: "you don't have to feel obligated or anything, it was just an idea…" She sounded slightly upset, and Brittany felt terrible. "No, no, I do want to, it sounds great, I was just mentally checking when I would be available!" Brittany lied through her teeth.

Surprisingly, Santana seemed to believe her, because she seemed a lot happier when she asked if Brittany thinks she could squeeze her in on Thursday night. Well, on second thought, maybe she didn't believe her, because that sounded like sarcasm to Brittany, but at least Santana was sounding happy again.

Nevertheless keeping up with the lie, she pretended to think it over for a while before answering: "yeah, I think I can make that work. What time?" "Six thirty?" Santana asked, and Brittany agreed, even though she was supposed to meet Puck and some other friends for a game of basketball.

Santana sounded genuinely happy about their plans, and Brittany dinn't regret her decision to abandon her friends for a second. They moved on to agreeing on a time for Brittany to drop of Santana's car tomorrow – Santana no longer insisting on walking now that she has Lennie to worry about – and after that they said their goodbyes.

When she's hung up, Brittany pumped her fist in the air triumphantly, date or not, at least they were going to hang out again, and the best part is that it was Santana's initiative, so clearly she wanted to spend time with Brittany! Although Brittany was slightly worried about a possible case of major awkwardness tomorrow – since she's driving Santana's car over to her house, Puck is going to be following her in his car, so she can get back to the garage, and that means that Puck will not only see Santana again, but also that he'll meet Helena and that he'll have to deal with Brittany's obvious swooning, which she already knew she won't be able to hide – she didn't let it get to her, deciding that she'd deal with it when necessary and not a minute sooner.

She felt great and indulged herself in thoughts of her and Santana as a couple, and later that night she fell asleep with a giant goofy grin on her face.


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N: Hi there guys! I hope you're still out there, I know it's been waaaay too long since I updated this, apologies! I will try to update a lot more frequently from now on._

_Also, I discovered a small mistake, it's not that important, but I'm telling you anyways, since later on something won't make sense otherwise. A couple of chapters ago, Santana said Helena just turned four a couple of weeks earlier(and it's May in the story), but then I said she was born in August. Sorry about that! She is in fact born in August, and will turn five._

_Anyways, on with the story! Enjoy! And please do let me know what you think, good or bad!_

* * *

On Tuesday Brittany and Puck had a great time at work again, although Puck looked at her really weirdly when she gave him an admittedly very flaky excuse as to why she wouldn't be able to participate in the basketball game on Thursday.

They didn't linger on it though, and spent the rest of the afternoon discussing the relative merits of Porsches versus Ferrari's while they worked on cars that were unfortunately worth a lot less. At the end of their work day, Brittany got into Santana's car which she had fixed up that day. Puck got into his own car and followed her to Santana's house.

Once they got there, Brittany was surprised by a little ball of jet black hair and tan skin that came out of nowhere and hugged her knees fiercely. "Brittany!" the little girl exclaimed, as if they had known each other for ages. Brittany lifted her on her hip, turning towards Puck, who had a baffled expression on her face.

"Helena!" came Santana's voice from inside the house. "Get back here, you're not allowed outside yet, and you never run out towards the street like that again, you hear me?" Puck's eyes got even wider at hearing Santana's serious mom voice, and Brittany tried to contain a giggle, while guiltily lowering Helena to the ground.

Santana walked towards them, and blushed when she noticed Puck's presence, lowering her eyes to the ground. There was an awkward silence, but it only lasted until Helena noticed Puck's presence and innocently asked: "who are you?"

"I'm, euhm, Brittany's friend Puck," he replied, which had Santana letting out a relieved sigh, and Brittany shot Puck a grateful look. "I'm Helena," the girl answered, and cutely waved at him. "It's nice to meet you, my lady," Puck said in a silly voice, and he grabbed Helena's hand and kissed it, which had her giggling uncontrollably. The tense atmosphere was broken.

Helena had gone over to Puck who had crouched down to her level so she could play with his Mohawk, a source of great interest to her. Meanwhile, Brittany talked to Santana, who told her that Helena seemed to be completely back to her old self. She was thinking of keeping her home one more day, just to be sure, but after that they would both be able to settle in their – still new – Rowesville routine again.

Brittany learned that Helena attended a fulltime daycare/preschool just about a mile out of the town center. Next year she would start kindergarten at the elementary school in town. "She can't wait to go to school," Santana told her, "she's always asking me to teach her how to read and write, she's such a little nerd." She rolled her eyes at this, but Brittany didn't miss the fond little smile that accompanied it.

When Puck and Helena were done discussing the merits of having a Mohawk, he and Brittany said their goodbyes, which was just a tad awkward again, since Brittany had lied to Puck about their Thursday dinner. On top of that Helena loudly inquired when she would get to see Puck again.

Brittany couldn't help but think that if only she and Santana would ever be dating for real, Helena would get plenty of opportunities to see Puck again.

* * *

Puck and Brittany drove back to the garage, and once they got there, they agreed to watch a movie over take out together. Since they were both hungry and Puck's place was closer to the garage, Brittany followed him to his house.

She didn't really like hanging out at Puck's that much, because his place permanently smelled of beer and sweaty feet, but he had the best movie collection, so every once in a while she put up with it. They agreed on pizza and Avatar – so what if they were secretly somewhat nerdy? – and kicked back.

On Wednesday night, Brittany felt the nerves about Thursday coming on, so she called Sam and finally she got him to understand how serious her crush on this girl was. Sam was such a big dork that he was the person Brittany came closest to having what could be considered as girl talk with, so they agreed that she would call him back the next day for clothing advice.

Somehow the guy knew pretty much exactly what was in Brittany's closet, and if she hadn't seen him drooling unsubtly over scores of girls over the course of the years, she would have started questioning his sexuality a long time ago.

Anyways, Thursday at six PM Brittany had her phone tucked under her left ear, while grabbing ever more items of clothing out of her closet. She didn't want to look like she had tried too hard – after all, this was not even a date – but due to her extremely casual every day style, pretty much anything else but a t-shirt and jeans would look formal in Santana's eyes.

Finally, with Sam's help, she settled on a black pair of skinny jeans – she usually wore her jeans pretty loosely, she liked being comfortable, so this was a step up, but just a small one – and a tight blue v-neck t-shirt which she knew made her eyes pop. Instead of her worn out converse she settled on slightly better looking vans.

She knew she looked hot, but still casual, so hopefully Santana wouldn't catch on to her efforts, while still being taken aback by her good looks. She said goodbye to Sam, who wished her good luck, and got to work on her hair and makeup.

She never put much effort in her clothes, just not caring that much, but her long, blonde hair was her pride. Tonight she curled it slightly, not enough to make it look like she spent hours on it, but just enough to create some natural looking waviness.

She added a little bit of makeup, meaning a dash of eyeliner and a hint of lip gloss – not being all that comfortable with more – but it was all she needed to make her face come alive. Combined with the blue shirt she was wearing, the eyeliner really drew all the attention to her eyes, and she hoped Santana would notice.

She checked her watch, and to her relief it was late enough for her to leave. Locking up behind her she left her house and got in her truck, feeling like a child, going to her first slumber party. Or maybe more accurately, like a teenager, going to her first party without parental supervision.

She drove the short distance to Santana's house, parked her car, got out and rang the doorbell. _Here goes nothing_, she thought to herself.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: I hope you guys like this new chapter, please let me know what you think!

* * *

Only a couple of seconds after Brittany had rung the bell, she heard quick footsteps from inside. Through the mostly opaque glass she could make out a small figure that could only be Helena, struggling to reach the door knob. Finally she managed, and Helena seemed just as excited as yesterday to see her.

"Brittany!"

Brittany smiled, and bent down to Helena's level for a hug. When they let go, Helena seemed to study her for a couple of seconds.

"What's wrong, Lennie?" Brittany asked.

"You look pretty," the little girl answered, and Brittany could have sworn it was followed by a conspiratorial wink. Since Helena was four, and couldn't possibly know how Brittany felt about Santana, she decided it must have been a coincidental blink.

Helena grabbed Brittany's hand and pulled her away from the door to the kitchen where Santana was hard at work. She was wearing a striped apron over a simple white dress and Brittany thought she looked adorable. She couldn't help but think how nice it would be to come home to a sight like this every night.

Brittany had never felt lonely in her life, even though she ate most of her dinners alone, but right now coming home to a meal that was cooked for you sounded pretty damn nice.

* * *

"Hey there," she greeted Santana, trying to sound casual.

Santana's head whipped around, and a strand of hair hung dangling in front of her face. Brittany felt herself resisting the urge to go over and tuck it back behind her ear.

"Hi!" Santana said enthusiastically. "This is almost ready to go into the oven, so why don't you take a seat and I'll be right there!"

Brittany obeyed, being pulled in the direction of the couch by Helena's little hand that was still holding hers.

"It smells really good," Brittany said, meaning it. She wasn't sure, but it had looked like Santana had been putting the finishing touches on a lasagna. Brittany wondered how Santana had guessed lasagna was one of her favorite foods.

"Mommy's lasagna is the best!" Helena confided, smiling brightly, and Brittany answered truthfully: "I bet!"

They got themselves settled on the comfy couch, and just when Brittany was about to compliment Helena's pajamas that she was already wearing – pink with a cupcake print – Santana was there already, carrying a bottle of red wine and two glasses.

"Would you like a glass of this or can I get you something else?" Santana asked, somewhat shyly.

"Wine sounds great!" Brittany replied cheerily. Deep down she preferred beer, but she didn't want to seem impolite, and the wine would go well with the lasagna.

Santana got to work opening the bottle, but seemed to struggle a bit with the corkscrew.

"Here, let me do that," Brittany said, reaching out, brushing against Santana's hand accidentally. She looked up, smiling apologetically, and to her surprise Santana was lightly blushing.

Brittany puzzled over what could have caused the blush while she quickly opened up the wine. Meanwhile, Santana had returned to the kitchen, but before Brittany could question her leaving, she was back already with a cup of apple juice for Lennie.

"Here you go, baby," Santana said, setting down the cup and stroking her daughter's hair as she did so.

"Thank you mommy," Lennie answered, smiling up sweetly, and Brittany found herself strangely moved by the cute display in front of her.

* * *

Once they finally all had their drinks organized, they fell into easy conversation, starting off with Lennie's first day back at school, and quickly moving to random topics such as everyone's favorite cartoon – Brittany thought it was adorable that Santana and Lennie answered 'Power puff girls' simultaneously - , weird ice cream flavors and Puck's haircut.

That last one cracked Brittany up, not in the least because Santana looked very worried as Lennie kept asking all these interested questions.

"Don't be getting any ideas, kiddo," she told Lennie firmly, "no Mohawk for you."

"But mommy," Lennie protested, "I don't want one, I just want to know why somebody would want one!"

This had Santana smiling again, and she ruffled Lennie's hair, "I don't know baby, I guess Puck's just silly like that."

As she was saying that, she stuck her tongue out and went cross-eyed, and Brittany just about melted. She loved seeing Santana this carefree, she wished she could be like this all the time.

Finally Santana told them it was time to eat, and they made their way to the table. During dinner, conversation kept flowing, and Brittany was surprised time and again at how smart Helena was. She doesn't know very many four-year-olds, but she can't imagine that all of them talk as well as Helena does, or have the same understanding of the world.

* * *

After they finished their meal, they remained seated for a couple more minutes, but Santana soon got up to clear the table. Once she had moved everything back to the kitchen, she told Lennie that it was time for bed. Brittany subtly checked her watch. 8 o'clock.

Unsurprisingly, Lennie didn't like the idea of being sent away, "mommy, I can't go to bed, I have to talk to Brittany," she whined, pouting. Brittany thought that pout was pretty damn cute, but stayed out of the conversation.

Santana glanced at her apologetically, but Brittany simply shrugged her shoulders and sent her a reassuring smile. She was pretty sure it was normal for kids to dislike being sent to bed.

Santana stayed firm, and told Lennie to say goodbye to Brittany, telling her she would see Brittany soon. She looked over at Brittany again, questioning this time, and Brittany nodded happily.

Finally Helena kissed Brittany on the cheek, and the blonde wished her good night. Santana lifted her up in her arms and told her she'd be right back and to take a seat on the couch and make herself comfortable.

Brittany moved to sit down, but changed her mind, and decided to get started on the dishes, hoping Santana would appreciate the gesture. As she stood by the sink, she wondered how the rest of the evening would go. She hoped things wouldn't get awkward now that the barrier of Helena's presence would be gone.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: I'm back! Sorry about the delay!

Thank you so much for all the reactions I got to last chapter, they make me so happy, and I hope it will continue to be like this! A special thank you to those of you who reviewed, I really appreciate it, so please keep letting me know what you think!

* * *

When Brittany is about halfway through the dishes, Santana returns, shy smile on her face. "She's asleep," she says. "She really likes you, you know, she's usually quite shy."

Brittany twists her head, and noticing Santana's careful stand, as if she isn't sure she should be in her own kitchen, she thinks to herself: wonder where she gets that from.

She doesn't say it out loud though, and instead replies: "she's adorable, and really smart!", smiling at Santana encouragingly.

Santana looks at the floor and blushes, as if the compliment was directed at her. In a way it was, Brittany ponders.

Santana suddenly clears her throat, looking up and going wide-eyed. "Brittany," she begins, "what are you doing, you're the guest!"

Brittany tries to give her a reassuring smile, but Santana seems overcome with embarrassment, and avoids her eyes at all costs. "Go sit down, I'll finish this, and I'll be right there!"

Brittany tries to protest, but the remainder of the bottle of wine, plus her glass are thrust into her hands, and Santana quite literally shoves her out of the kitchen. Brittany obeys and sits down on the couch slightly awkwardly, wondering whether Santana is truly upset at her doing the dishes, or just stressed out and therefore overreacting. She hopes for the latter, and fears the rest of the night will be uncomfortable.

Clearly afraid of the same thing Santana shouts all of a sudden: "you can turn the T.V. on if you want, I think Dance Moms is on!"

Brittany needs a couple of minutes to find the right channel, she has never watched the show before. She has actually never even heard of it, but it doesn't sound great to her. Already though, she finds herself willing to quite literally do anything to please Santana. She'd give up a lot to see Santana relax again, like she did earlier, with Lennie.

Eventually, Brittany stumbles on four thirty-something women screaming at each other in what looks like a dressing room, and she guesses this is the right show. Sighing, she sits back, determined to figure out what this show is all about by the time Santana gets back.

When Santana enters the living room five minutes later, Brittany has decided she hates the show, but she is still intrigued, trying to figure out why a girl like Santana enjoys watching this crap.

Santana sits down gingerly, leaving a good couple of feet between the two of them, and Brittany can't help but feel a little disappointed, although she should have known that there was no chance in hell Santana would have sat down right next to her.

"Are you okay with watching this?" Santana asks, hesitantly, but Brittany just beams back at her.

"Of course!" she says, even though she'd actually rather just turn the T.V. off and talk.

In the meantime, a commercial has come on, and Santana, who finally seems a little more at ease again, asks her if she's seen the show before. Brittany hesitates, but decides that honesty is the best policy, as Santana would definitely figure out she was lying sooner or later.

"No," she says, "but it seems fun!" Well, semi-honesty it is.

"Oh," Santana says, eyes bright, "I'll catch you up!" She turns towards Brittany and begins a vivid explanation that involves way too many names for Brittany to ever remember, but she finds herself mesmerized nonetheless. She's never seen Santana this excited about anything, ever, so she enjoys listening to her, and watching as her face comes alive with glee. She truly is the most beautiful girl Brittany has ever laid eyes on.

When the commercials are over, Santana shuts up abruptly, and turns back to the screen. She takes a big sip of wine, and settles back, getting comfy. Brittany spends the next hour keeping a half eye on the screen, but the majority of her attention is on Santana. The brunette is enthralled by what is happening on the screen, and that is enough to keep Brittany entertained.

When it is finally over, Brittany judges that Santana is relaxed enough not to be off-set by a couple of questions. Smiling, she asks her: "how come you like that show so much?"

Santana just shrugs, and says: "watching them screw around and be immature, and being terrible mothers just makes me feel better about my life, I guess." She's quiet for a second, before adding, "I used to be in dance and gymnastics, when I was little, so it is a world I'm sort of familiar with. Although things were definitely different back then."

Brittany is surprised. She's seldom heard Santana say so much at once, and she's just willingly told her two personal things. She wants to know more, but doesn't want to overstep either, so she thinks a little before settling on a next question.

"Was your mom anything like those moms?" she asks, nudging Santana with her sock-clad foot and smiling at her.

Santana's expression, however, goes blank. "Not quite," she says, somberly, "she had other things on her mind."

That can mean a million things, but something tells Brittany that while Santana disapproves of the moms they just watched on screen, her own mother wasn't much better, although altogether different.

"Do you want to watch anything else?" she asks airily, deciding to change the subject. Santana glances at her gratefully.

"Let's see if anything is on," she says, and Brittany grabs the remote, handing it to Santana. Santana starts flipping through the channels, not stopping for a long time, until Brittany catches a glance of Ross and Phoebe. She smiles when Santana stops, twisting her head, using only her eyes to ask Brittany if she's okay with a rerun of Friends.

Brittany nods fervently, and Santana laughs her full laugh again, giving Brittany butterflies.

During Dance moms they have unconsciously moved a little close together, and when Santana rubs her arms, Brittany looks around, and grabs the quilt that's on the back of the couch. In order to put it over the both of them, they have to move even closer, and finally they are sort of touching.

Brittany hopes this will lead to actual cuddling, having completely forgotten her earlier internal debates about this evening being a date or not.

In the middle of the second episode, Santana puts her head on Brittany's shoulder, startling the blonde terribly. She's internally fist-pumping when she notices how deep Santana's breathing is. She checks and sees Santana's are closed. She's asleep!

Now what is she supposed to do?


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Hi guys, sorry for the ridiculously long wiat! I hope you can forgive me!

I hope you're still interested in this story, please let me know what you thing!

* * *

A quick glance at her watch taught Brittany that it was a little after 10 PM. She really didn't want to wake Santana up, but she didn't know what else to do. She could hardly leave, could she?

Since it wasn't that late yet, she decided to wait a little before undertaking anything. Maybe Santana would wake up spontaneously. Brittany settled back into the comfortable position she had been in before she had discovered Santana was asleep and she let herself enjoy the feeling of Santana's weight cuddled into her. She could picture spending many a night like this, having a lovely dinner with Helena, tucking her into bed, and fall asleep watching TV together.

Brittany let out a deep sigh, realizing that she was letting her imagination take over again. The sigh seemed to startle Santana, who started to stir. Brittany felt sort of guilty for waking her, but mostly she was relieved that she no longer had to decide what to do about the situation.

Santana peered at her, sleepy expression on her face, and Brittany's heart melted at the sight, which was unbelievably cute.

Santana's look of sleepy bewilderment quickly turned into one of deep embarrassment, and she blushed furiously. "Oh my god, I fell asleep, didn't I?", she asked, clearly upset.

Brittany couldn't help but giggle. "Yeah, you did," she answered, "but it's okay, really, don't worry about it!"

Santana huffed softly, but didn't say anything else, and turned her gaze to the TV. They watched another episode of Friends in comfortable silence, still more or less cuddled up to each other.

When that episode ended, Brittany noticed that it was about eleven, and she figured it was time for her to leave. It was a week night, so they both had work in the morning.

She sat up slightly, automatically causing Santana to shift, and she received a confused look. "I should get going, it's getting late," she said regretfully. She thought she saw a flicker of disappointment cross Santana's face, but it might have been her imagination, because there was nothing she'd rather do than go to bed right here, in Santana's house, and fall asleep with Santana in her arms.

Santana stood up, checking her watch. "Oh, I hadn't noticed how late it was getting," she said apologetically. _That's what happens when you fall asleep_, Brittany thought, but she decided to keep it to herself, so she wouldn't make Santana feel embarrassed again.

"Yeah, well, we both have work tomorrow," she said instead, stating the obvious to fill the silence. It sounded stupid, and she felt a little awkward.

Santana just smiled, and they started walking towards the front door. Neither of them knew exactly how to end this night, which made the situation kind of tense for the first time all evening.

Brittany cleared her throat. "I had a really nice time tonight," she said, "and thank you for the food, it was delicious."

Santana blushed again. "Thanks," she said, scuffing her foot, "I had a nice time too. Maybe we can do it again? Lennie will want to see you again."

Brittany didn't know if it was bravery or foolishness, but something made her say: "Just Lennie? Or you too?"

Santana mumbled a reply that Brittany had difficulty understanding: "I like having a friend," was what Brittany thought she had said, and she decided leaving it at that, since Santana was clearly uncomfortable.

"Uhm, okay, well good night then," she replied, sounding overly cheery. Santana looked up, and smiled, "good night Brittany, I'll call you soon, okay?"

Brittany smiled in agreement. This was great, she wouldn't have to worry about overstepping boundaries by calling too soon or anything, and Santana clearly felt more comfortable when she could determine the pace of things.

"Sounds great!" she said, quickly bending down to kiss Santana on the cheek. "Night!" She exclaimed, leaving a surprised Santana on the steps by her front door.

Brittany got in her truck, and waved at Santana as she pulled out. Santana was waving back, soft smile on her face, and when she got home Brittany soon fell asleep, still picturing Santana as she had stood there on her porch in all her idyllic beauty.

* * *

Over the following weeks, Brittany had dinner at Santana's house at least once a week. Santana would always call her to see if she could come over the next night. Things had long ceased to be awkward, and Brittany enjoyed the comfortable routine of hanging out with Lennie for a little bit while Santana cooked, then eating dinner together and spending some time with Santana alone once Lennie was in bed.

Some nights they watched TV like they had done that first night, some nights they just talked, and they had even played Scrabble twice, which had turned out to be a lot more fun than Brittany had thought it would be.

Over the weekend they occasionally spent time together during the day too. They would take Lennie to the playground in the park, or out for ice cream, and simply enjoyed spending time outside in the summery weather. One Saturday Brittany had even invited Santana and Lennie over to her parents' house, who had a pool in their backyard.

Santana had been very hesitant, but Brittany had played it smart and had asked her in Lennie's presence. The little girl was obviously dying to go, and, as Brittany had hoped, Santana hadn't been able to say no to her daughter.

Brittany's parents had instantly been taken with both Santana and Helena, and after seeing how much Lennie enjoyed playing in the pool, had insisted they come back regularly. Brittany's dad, who was a gym teacher nearing retirement, had even offered to teach Lennie how to swim.

When they had left that night, Brittany's parents had expressed their disappointment at the fact that Brittany and Santana weren't dating, calling her the perfect daughter-in-law, with a lovely granddaughter as a great bonus.

Although Brittany had been slightly annoyed by their remarks, she hadn't been able to get their words out of her head, and she realized, that even though their relationship was nothing but friendly, she definitely still wanted more.

So she finally gathered all of her courage, and called Santana, to ask her out to dinner. She wouldn't call it a date, but she was determined to finally find out if Santana in any way reciprocated her feelings, and if they could ever be anything more.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Hey guys! Here is the new chapter! Hope you enjoy, let me know what you think!

* * *

The phone had rung three times so far, and Brittany was tensely biting her nails. _Please pick up!_ If Santana didn't pick up, she didn't know when she would get the courage to try again.

Finally after the fourth rung, Santana picked up. "Hi," she said, sounding like she was out of breath.

"Hey," Brittany begun, "what's up? You sound like you've been running."

"Yeah," she answered, "Lennie and I are playing tag." Brittany could hear the smile in her voice, and she was happy that Santana seemed to be in a good mood.

"Sooo, what's up with you?" Santana returned the question, obviously wondering why Brittany had called her.

"Nothing much," Brittany answered, praying that she wouldn't chicken out now. "Just wanted to ask you something."

"Oh yeah?" Santana said, sounding vaguely distracted. Brittany thought she heard Lennie's little voice in the background. She wondered whether Santana being distracted would work in her advantage or not. She might not be in the right mood right now, but on the other hand Brittany could maybe get her to agree quicker as she maybe wouldn't fully realize exactly what she was agreeing to.

She took a deep breath and went for it: "I wanted to ask you to dinner." There, nice and firm, to the point, surely Santana would understand her intentions.

"To dinner?" Was Santana's reply, "like at your parents' house? Or what do you mean?"

Damn, apparently, she hadn't been as obvious as she had hoped. Now there really was no way around it: "No, actually, I wanted to take you out to dinner, like at a nice restaurant?" She knew she sounded very hesitant, but she was just so afraid of Santana turning her down.

"Brittany," Santana begun, and she could hear the confusion in her voice, "I thought you understood when I told you that I couldn't, and things have been so great between us lately, please don't ruin it now."

Santana sounded defeated, but it was nothing compared to the defeat Brittany felt, she was sure. With all her heart she had hoped that Santana returned even a fraction of the affection she felt for the girl.

She realized she hadn't said anything yet, but she found out she could hardly speak because she was choking up, and she didn't really know what to say anyways.

Suddenly she thought of Puck and what he would say if he saw her like this. Likely he would never recover from laughing at her, self-declared womanizer and bad-ass, close to tears because a girl turned her down!

Suddenly she found some kind of strength deep within herself, and she heard herself say: "Santana, I like you, I really like you, in fact, I have never felt this way about anybody before, and I want you to give me a chance. I know you've been hurt before, but you're still young, and you shouldn't throw away any chance you have of being happy. If you like me at all, you'll be ready to go at seven on Friday, I'll come and pick you up. If you need someone to watch Lennie, give my mom a call, she would love to babysit. Have a nice day."

With that she hung up the phone, not giving Santana a chance to respond. If the girl refused to open the door on Friday or if she wouldn't go with her, she'd deal with it then, but for now she knew she had needed to take a chance, and she was glad she had done it.

Nonetheless, she noticed that her legs were shaky, and she had to sit for a minute to calm down.

* * *

A couple of days later, Brittany is freaking out. She does not have anything to wear. Well, anything that Santana hasn't seen yet or that she wants Santana to see her in. Like, there's the dress she was forced to wear when she was a bridesmaid in her cousin's wedding, but it's pink and poofy, and just, no.

On Thursday, she is so desperate that she actually goes shopping. She has asked her mom to come along, because she can't handle this on her own, and Puck wouldn't be any help whatsoever.

While they're on their way, her mom gives her a very interesting little piece of information.

"Guess who called me the other day?" she says, turning her head towards Brittany who's nervously tapping the steering wheel. She is not excited about this shopping trip. She hates shopping.

Nonetheless, her mom's tone makes it clear this call was an interesting one, so she says: "I don't know, you tell me."

"Santana did!" her mom almost yells, "she needs a babysitter on Friday."

"Really," says Brittany, trying to sound as if this isn't the best news she has heard in ages.

"I wonder where she is going," her mom says, "I mean, I didn't think she really knew that many people around here… I also wonder why she didn't just ask you? Do you have other plans?"

You see, Brittany failed to tell her mom what she did, for fear of Santana standing her up. She just told her mom she needed some new clothes, and that's all she needed to hear to get in the car.

But this is kind of perfect, actually. Now she won't have to tell her mom that she practically threatened Santana into this date, after being turned down first.

"Uhm, mom, me and Santana are going out," she says casually, as if it doesn't mean much to her.

Her mom stares at her. "Really?" she asks, surprised. "Well I'm glad you finally got the guts to ask the girl out, Britt, she obviously likes you, and you are so smitten, it is ridiculous."

Brittany refrains from a sarcastic comeback to the last part, because the first part was pretty interesting.

"Do you really think she likes me, mom?" she asks, her tone a lot more serious than it has been so far.

"I know so, baby," her mom says, "but you'll have to have patience, Britt, don't scare her away."

Brittany sighs. _Thanks mom_, she thinks. As if she didn't know that already.

The hour they spend at the mall is one she wants to forget as soon as possible. Now that her mom knows she is going on a date, she is determined to find the perfect outfit for Brittany. The only thing that gets Brittany through the ordeal is the knowledge that Santana is actually planning on going with her. She had been seriously considering the possibility of Santana never talking to her again, so her relief is immense.

And when they finally leave with a new pair of skinny jeans, a tight-fitting jeans shirt with some kind of ethnic pattern, and a nice pair of sandals, she is thankful for her mom's help, because she is feeling pretty good about the outfit, and she knows she would never have been able to put it together by herself.

Only one more night until their date, she thinks to herself, and heaves another sigh.


End file.
